{"id":40699831,"date":"2021-08-31T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=40699831"},"modified":"2021-08-31T13:00:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T13:00:34","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-a-prayer-for-a-harsh-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=40699831","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: A Prayer For a Harsh World"},"content":{"rendered":"

A poem related to current events.<\/h2>
<\/figure>

(Image description: A photo of lit tealight candles arranged in the shape of a peace sign against a dark background.) Credit: Photo by Joshua Sukoff<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

A Prayer For a Harsh World<\/h3>

O Keener,<\/p>

You Shrieked<\/p>

Wept<\/p>

For Your dear<\/p>

Red-haired child<\/p>

Torn by manipulation<\/p>

Struck by Spear<\/p>

It isn\u2019t the only time You mourn.<\/p>

War<\/p>

Earthquakes<\/p>

Hurricanes<\/p>

Plague<\/p>

Your Kings of Oxen, Boars, Sheep<\/p>

even beyond \u00c9ire\u2019s borders<\/p>

still mourn with You.<\/p>

Their bellows and cries<\/p>

are carried in the wind,<\/p>

piercing, harsh echoes.<\/p>

In distant lands<\/p>

Islands, deserts, and mountains<\/p>

Cities and towns<\/p>

Manipulation rests at the heart<\/p>

of these tragedies<\/p>

bore by those with power and wealth<\/p>

As it did with <\/p>

Your cherished son,<\/p>

his listless head against Your chest<\/p>

Tear-stained cheeks,<\/p>

Loose, wild hair<\/p>

voice hoarse with effort<\/p>

No sedate Piet\u00e0<\/p>

Grief-stricken<\/p>

Mary of the Gael<\/p>

Untamed Juno of the Gael*<\/p>

heavy with weariness<\/p>

the world\u2019s woes a weighted shawl<\/p>

A time of rest and care<\/p>

clears Your sacred mind,<\/p>

returns Your song.<\/p>

Your skill of satire<\/p>

fueled by Your keening<\/p>

stirs You to action.<\/p>

Midwife and Mother,<\/p>

may You guide us<\/p>

to a kinder world.<\/p>

*I found the term Juno of the Gael used in reference to St. Bride in the Carmina Gadelica. I\u2019m aware that there was a tendency to sometimes conflate Scottish and Irish figures with perceived Greek or Roman equivalents in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but I considered the comparison interesting enough to use in the poem. <\/p>

Source: https:\/\/sacred-texts.com\/neu\/celt\/cg1\/cg1074.htm<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poem related to current events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40699831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40699831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40699831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40699831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40699831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40699831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40699831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}